The lost laptop at 4 pm
An analyst leaves a laptop on a train. It holds a file of customer orders. She rings three people. One says "tell the police". One says "tell nobody, it is probably fine". One says "lock it from here".
Nobody knows the right steps, so hours are lost. A short written list of steps would stop the guessing.
Key words
| Word | What it means | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Standard operating procedure | a written set of steps for a routine task, so everyone does it the same way | an SOP |
| Induction | the first training a new member of staff gets | |
| Policy | a rule that says what people must or must not do | |
| Acceptable use policy | the rules for using the organisation's devices and networks | |
| Human error | a mistake made by a person | |
| Go live | to start using a new system for real work | |
| Network | devices joined so they can share things | |
| Resilience | the ability to keep working or recover fast after a fault | |
| Phishing | a fake message that tricks you into giving away data or clicking |
The cells students fill in are left blank in this preview.
By the end of this lesson
Note
I can describe how procedures, training, induction and policies make a system resilient.
Starter
Have a go
Starter
3 questionsYour answers are marked here and are not kept. A college account keeps every student’s marks.
An SOP gives everyone the same steps
A standard operating procedure (SOP) is a set of written steps for a routine task. Examples are setting up an account for a new starter, checking the nightly backup, or reporting a lost device.
A good SOP is short and uses plain words. It has numbered steps, names who does each one, and is easy to find. It cuts human error, because nobody has to remember or guess.
Check
Have a go
Check
3 questionsYour answers are marked here and are not kept. A college account keeps every student’s marks.